Our First Christmas
by mysticdragon2016
Summary: On Shot Puzzleshipping. Yugi and Atem's first Christmas after their duel in Egypt.


Yugi placed the boxes down in the living room, he smiled at the sight of Solomon and Atem fixing the branches of their Christmas tree. It was the first Christamas since the return from Egypt, where Atem's father, taking note of Yugi's love for his son, not only offered him back, but gave his blessing to the pair. At Aknamkanon's request, He had taken both boys aside before speaking to Solomon, who offered his support and to take guardianship of Atem with a promise to care for him in the same way he cared for Yugi. An offer that was used to arrange their marriage. They found themselves transported to Ancient Egypt.

Yugi sat in the throne room, Atem at his side. Aknamkanon and his Queen rose to greet them. Solomon, Tristan, Joey and Tea stood behind Yugi next to Mahad and Mana.

"My boy." The former Pharaoh outstretched his arms, embracing his son. "My brave boy. Your mother and I could not be more proud of you." He praised. The Queen soon joined in.

"My precious boy, you hardly had a chance to live at all and you gave it up to save everyone without a second thought for yourself. My regret is that I had so little time with you. I hope you know that you are and have always been loved. The time has come for you to see what life truly is. You have found your heart,Atem and we have witnessed his." She removed her silver sapphire band, placing it in Atem's hand.

"Mother, I-"

"We've spoken to Yugi's grandfather,my son. He will look after you until your time in their world ends, at which time you will return to us and take back your throne."Atem looked to Solomon who offered a small nod of approval.

"I'd be more than happy to share my home. You've taken such good care of Yugi and saved me more than once. It would be an honor, my home, is and always will be your home."" Solomon assured him.

"Yugi is everything to me," Atem said, glancing down at the ring in his hand. "But I wonder.." He moved to stand before the teen. "Do you truly understand what accepting this will mean?"

"That I'll get to be with you-"

"To accept this ring, means you and I are bound together for would be married and after you leave your world, this would be your home, always. There is no breaking that bond once this ring is on your finger. Even if you regret it later."Atem explained.

"I understand." Yugi replied. " But there's no way I could regret you. I want to be with you. I love you so much and I don't want to know what it feels like to say goodbye. I feel like you're such a big part of me and..you make my heart smile every time I'm with you. My heart skips a beat when you're close to me. I love the idea of always having you because...if I had the choice...I'd always choose you, in a million lifetimes, in any world, I want to be beside you."

"You're absolutely sure you don't want to think about it, something like this shouldn't be taken lightly." Yugi smiled.

"I'm positive… As long as this is what you want."

"I do. I'm only concerned that you might want to see what else your world-"

"You are my world."

"You say that now, but later-" Atem stopped, seeing only sincerity and a deep love in Yugi's eyes. "I'm only asking because I would never want you to feel like you're trapped and unhappy. You are my one and only love. To do such a thing to you would break my heart."

"I think we both know that you and I belong together, we're stronger together and happy. Life is just better when you can share it with someone."

"Then here in the presence of my father and mother, your grandfather, our friends, Mahad, acting as high priest and the Egytian Gods themselves, I choose to give you my heart, my life and my eternal, unconditional love. I offer you my mother's ring, a tradition passed down through our family. I give it with this promise." Atem took Yugi's hand in his own.

"I promise to love only you, truly and faithfully. To hold you always in the highest respects,to cherish you and support you. Wherever our life takes us, I will walk with you. I will protect you and although I cannot promise that our life together will be perfect, or that it will always be easy, I can promise you that I'll be there to hold your hand through the hard times, and celebrate your victories in the good. Will you accept this ring?" Tears filled Yugi's eyes as he nodded.

"I will." He said, allowing the ring to be placed on his finger. Atem rested a hand on Yugi's cheek, brushing away the tears, before the newly married couple shared their first kiss.

Yugi pulled himself from the memory, lovingly touching the ring. With a contented sigh, he moved over to Atem, hugging him from behind and resting his head on his shoulder, causing the pharaoh to pause.

"I'm so glad you're here." Yugi said tightening his grip. "I know you don't really do Christmas, but I just want you to know that I love you and this year has been amazing because of you..Thank you, for everything you've done. I really appreciate you helping Grandpa while I'm in school and the way you're always looking out for all of us." Atem turned to face him, wrapping his arms around him, allowing Yugi's head to rest on his chest. The young duelist found the rhythmic sound of Atem's heartbeat to be soothing.

"My most precious heart, I couldn't have done those things if you weren't with me."

"I don't want to break up your moment, boys." Solomon said. "But if we want the tree to be up before tomorrow, we have a lot to do."Yugi pulled away reluctantly.

"Grandpa's right. Sorry about the destruction." Atem kissed his forehead causing him to giggle lightly. Yugi loved their special greeting.

"You two remind me of my wife and myself. We were so in love…"Solomon shook his head. "I hope that through your years together, you only grow closer. It's good to know that someone will be watching out for Yugi when I'm gone."

"Don't say things like that, Grandpa, you're probably going to outlive everyone. You'll be like a million years old. Anyway, you know I hate it when you say that, especially at Christmas."

"I know it's difficult for you to hear, and despite your comment, no one lives forever. I'm not getting any younger." Yugi bowed his head. The old man sighed.

"Let's take a little break. Yugi, don't you have something you wanted to show Atem?"

"Yeah." Yugi took Atem's hand, leading him to the sofa. Solomon lowered himself into his own chair, watching Yugi turn to face the Pharaoh. The young duelist reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a small box wrapped in blue paper that was covered in white snowflakes and a bow.

"We don't usually give presents until tomorrow, but I've been thinking about something." Yugi began. "I noticed there are a few differences between the way we got married and our traditions and there's nothing wrong with that, but I thought maybe- When you asked me, you gave me your mother's ring and made a promise to me, I didn't get that chance."

"By accepting it, you did make me a promise, the promise of an eternity filled with love and the ability to wake every morning to another day of seeing you there. I can ask no more than for you to be happy and know that you are loved."

"But that's what I want for you too. Here when we get married, we both wear a ring and we both make vows." Yugi handed the box to Atem, who began to unwrap it.

"It's not much, but I wanted to buy you a new one, they were too expensive and well…" Atem set the paper aside, opening the box to reveal a silver band.

"It's beautiful, Yugi." Atem said as Yugi took the ring from the box.

"I know your custom is for me to wear one to let people know who I am to you, it kind of goes with mine but it belonged to my grandma. Grandpa said it was okay. One day if you'll wear it, I'll be able to get you one."

"I would be honored to wear this one, Partner. "Yugi took hold of Atem's hand, looking deep into his eyes.

"I know we're already past this part, but I'd like to say a few things to you. You are my sun, my moon and the stars. I promise to be there to hold you up when you're feeling down, to walk down the path of our life beside you every step of the way. You're my best friend, my soul mate and I want to be all those things to you too. I will always make sure you know how much you mean to me. I promise to always be your partner, I'll be your comfort, your friend, anything you need me to be. I could try for the next thousand years, and never be able to tell you how much your love means to me. I'll hold your hope, when you feel like you have none,I'll help you build your dreams.. If I could go back in time, I'd do it all again because I'd always choose us. Our future. Thank you for giving me the chance to live out the beautiful story of us." Yugi placed the ring on Atem's finger.

Before Atem could reply, a knock at the door interrupted the moment.

"I'll get it." Solomon rose from his chair, making his way to the front door. Yugi leaned forward, embracing his love.

"Did we miss it?" Joey asked, appearing in the doorway followed by Tea and Tristan.

"I'm afraid so. Come in, you kids can help us decorate the tree." Tea crossed her arms.

"I told you guys we shouldn't have stopped for those snacks."she chastised. Yugi and Atem stood to greet them.

"Hey Guys." Yugi greeted cheerfully.

"Merry Christmas Yugi and Atem, Mr. Muto. "

"Merry Christmas, Tea." Yugi replied. "We're glad you could celebrate our first Christmas Eve together. We have ornaments in these boxes and there's some drinks in the kitchen."

"Thanks, Yug. Hey, Pharaoh." Joey said. "I got a couple snacks for us."the blond teen held up the shopping bags in his hand.

"Great, we can put them on the coffee table. Did anyone bring the movies?"

"I got 'em." Tristan said, handing them to Yugi. They gathered around the boxes. Yugi rummaged through the various decorations, pulling out homemade snowman figures, brightly colored bulbs and long strands of garland.

Finally, he pulled out a pair of Santa hats.

"I remember these." Yugi said. "We used to put these on when we had hot chocolate and you'd read that poem,remember Grandpa?" Solomon chuckled.

"How could I forget, that used to be your favorite part of Christmas eve. It seems like yesterday." Yugi placed the object on his head.

"It still fits. What do you guys think?"

"It's cute. You should wear it for our picture."Tea suggested.

"The pharaoh should put on the other one, you two could match." Joey grinned.

"I'm not really a hat person, I didn't even care for-"

"Please, Love?"Yugi pleaded. "Just this once and I'll never ask you to do it again."Joey and Tristan snickered softly.

"Only this once." Atem agreed, allowed Yugi to place it on his head.

"You're so beautiful, Atem, no matter what you wear." Yugi said admiring his husband's appearance.

"Hey, what the heck is this?"Joey held up a plastic green sprig bearing red berries.

"That's mistletoe, I haven't set it out in years."Solomon said, placing a rocking horse ornament on the tree. "This was from my son's very first Christmas. When he was a boy, he used to love putting on all by himself. When Yugi was born, his grandma and I had one made. The old man held up the object. A silver snowflake shimmered as it reflected the light. In the center, a photo of a newborn Yugi asleep, his birthday etched into the object below him.

"Aw, you were so little." Tea cooed.

"Yes, Yugi was a bit earlier than could hold him in one arm and-"

"You don't have to tell them my life story, Grandpa." Yugi said, "I'm sure there's other things that are more interesting and less embarrassing."

"We all start life as babies, there's nothing embarrassing about it. One day Yugi, you might understand. When you're holding your son or daughter-"

"Grandpa, you know we can't do that. Can we change the subject please?"Yugi hid his face in Atem's shoulder.

"You shouldn't hide yourself away, Yugi. "Atem encouraged. "It's a precious memory for your family.

"Yeah, but-"

"Speaking of new family members and first Christmases," Solomon continued. He moved to the end table, pulling open the drawer and offering the object inside to Atem and Yugi.

The small box was red with elegant golden letters that spelled out the name of the store.

"This is from all of us, for both of you."

"You guys, I-you didn't have to get us-"

"Open it, I want to see how it turned out." Tristan urged. Yugi and Atem took hold of the lid, lifting it off together. The pharaoh carefully lifted the ornament, showing it to his partner.

"It's perfect." Atem said, touched by the gift.

"Our first kiss after we were married. Look Love, you can kind of see your parents back there." The young duelist pointed to the background, Atem smiled, noticing the figures. Just below, their wedding date was written.

"I didn't even know anyone had a camera." Yugi said in astonishment.

"I did." Tea admitted. "I probably should've asked if it was okay with you guys, I-"

"No, I'm glad you did. Thank you everyone." Atem said, holding Yugi close to him, their eyes still fixed on the gift.

"We just wanted to give you a proper welcome, my boy. You're part of our family now and we couldn't leave you out of the tradition." Solomon grinned.

"I can't tell you how much this means to me. To feel that I am part of such a group, it's a honor. Thank you, Solomon, Tristan, Tea, Joey, for being so supportive and welcoming. I truly feel at home." Solomon patted the teen's shoulder.

"Just call me Grandpa." He said.

"Go on, put it on the tree." Tea encouraged.

"Before ya do that,"Joey said. "You got something else to do." Atem and Yugi turned to him, in confusion to find that the blond boy had been holding the mistletoe above Yugi's head.

"Seriously?" Yugi cried, beginning to blush.

"Bet you couldn't do that again if you tried. Not that perfect."

"I'm not sure what that plant has to do with our picture." Atem replied, Yugi took his hand.

"There's a Christmas tradition that if you're under the mistletoe, someone has to kiss you."

"I see. That's an interesting custom, however, I should tell you that to recreate something as beautiful as this moment, doesn't require such prompting. Also, it sounded to me as if you were challenging my ability." Joey chuckled.

"Maybe I was." He teased. "What do you say, Pharaoh?" Atem placed a hand gently on Yugi's cheek, leaning forward.

"I accept your challenge." He said, before kissing Yugi lovingly.


End file.
